Paul L. Newby II | The Grand Rapids PressTime well spent: Deja Lester, 15, left, works on her artwork with fellow students in a digital photography class at the West Michigan Center of Arts & Technology.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Shakur Sanders puts his creativity to the test every week in his digital arts class at the West Michigan Center of Arts & Technology, an after-school and summer school program aimed at students from four public high schools in Grand Rapids.

Sanders loves basketball, and he also enjoys a scary movie.

So when he was given an assignment to design a digital piece of art for a class project, he placed himself on a mountain with a basketball hoop -- with several imposing monsters between him and the bucket.

"It's going to be scary going to the basket," said Sanders, a freshman shooting guard on the Ottawa Hills High School basketball team, "but since I want to score so bad, I have to go.

"I always like to try something new," said Sanders, who has attended WMCAT since November. "I found out it was fun, so I stayed."

WMCAT is in its fourth year of targeting students who are statistically at risk of quitting school. Its first "graduating class" -- 65 students who have attended all four years -- will be celebrated today and will mark an important milestone, said its executive director, Luisa Schumacher.

The program boasts an 85 percent graduation percentage among its students, she said, which is 9 percent higher than the composite average of the four participating schools: Central, Creston, Ottawa Hills and Union.

"These outcomes are greater than we expected," Schumacher said. "We're only four years old and we're seeing these outcomes."

More than 300 students are currently in the program.

Its success is cyclical, Schumacher said. Younger students see the achievements of their predecessors and are inspired to join the program, which leads to more success.

Part of the credit, Schumacher said, is its 12-to-1 student-teacher ratio, which assures students face-time with their instructor.

WMCAT classes, which earn high school credit, range from Web design to photography to fine arts. Schumacher said the curriculum is evolving to meet the interests of students, who attend one two-hour class each week.

"It's not about tests. It's not about measuring students," Schumacher said. "It's just about believing in them."

Operating in the second floor at 98 E. Fulton Street, WMCAT has a $1 million annual budget, provided by corporate and individual philanthropists. That has resulted in the design of a state-of-the-art facility.

"The concept is, if you build a world-class facility, you'll get world-class students," Schumacher said. "If you build a prison, you'll get prisoners."

Ottawa Hills senior Benjamin Chapman, who has been at WMCAT his entire high school career, said he came to the school without a clue about his career.

After taking several design classes, he has decided to pursue a career in engineering. Chapman, 18, is headed to the Air Force after graduation, he said, where he hopes to design buildings and maybe planes.

"They gave me motivation to do better in life," Chapman said. "They're like another parent."